“This morning, 467 people have reported relatives to be missing. Of those, 153 have been located, 119 of them alive but, unfortunately, 34 of them deceased,” said Santos in a statement in Bogota in which he also announced new measures to deal with the catastrophe.

Although the President provided no concrete figures, the number of complaints suggests that there could be more than 200 people buried under tons of rocks and mud that swept into and over several Mocoa neighbourhoods.

Meanwhile, a Colombian Red Cross official told Efe news that the agency is seeking at least eight missing foreigners, three of them Spanish, about whom no information was received since the night of the tragedy.

On Monday, Santos declared a state of economic, social and ecological emergency to deal with the tragedy.